Interferometric system



A. s. BAGLEY ETAL INTERFEROMETRIC SYSTEM July 29, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 7, 1966 v a Q Q 5:3 3 :5: 52; w 0? 5:52 2232 @252 :5: 5w:

INVENTORS ALAN S. BAGLEY LEONARD S. CUTLER w cum JOSEPH F. RANDO BY W ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,458,259 INTERFEROMETRIC SYSTEM Alan S. Bagley and Leonard S. Cutler, Los Altos Hills, and Joseph F. Rando, Los Altos, Calif., assignors to Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, Calif., a corporation of California Filed Nov. 7, 1966, Ser. No. 592,589 Int. Cl. Gfllb 9/02 US. Cl. 356-106 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A portion of a first laser light beam of one optical frequency and a portion of a second laser light beam of a different optical frequency are mixed by a photoelectric device to produce an electrical reference signal having a countable intermediate frequency.

Another portion of the first laser light beam traverses a fixed length optical path of an interferometer and another portion of the second laser light beam traverses a variable length optical path of the interferometer. These other portions of the first and second laser light beams are mixed by another photoelectric device to produce an electrical information signal having the same countable intermediate frequency as the reference signal only while the optical length of the variable length optical path is not being changed. A reversible counter integrates the difference in frequency between the reference and information signals while the optical length of the variable length optical path is being changed to indicate the change in length of the variable length optical path.

This invention relates to an interferometric system that uses two optical frequencies for measuring length. Such a two frequency interferometric system is an AC system that operates at the frequency difference between the two optical frequencies.

Conventional interferometric systems typically use only one optical frequency for measuring length and are therefore D-C systems. The resolution and the reliability of a D-C system may be seriously impaired by 1/ noise and by D-C shifts as well as by temperature gradients, air turbulence, and other such causes of instability. In an AC system 1/ noise and D-C shifts are completely avoided, and the above-mentioned causes of instability are substantially less consequential since such techniques as automatic gain control may be employed to compensate for these causes of instability.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a two frequency interferometric system for measuring length.

It is another object of this invention to provide a two frequency interferometric system for continuously measuring the change in optical length of a variable length optical path of the system.

Another object of this invention is to increase the resolution of a two frequency interferometric system for measuring length.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a two frequency interferometric system in which the wavelength unit of measured length may be simply converted to a conventional unit of measured length, such as the centimeter, by frequency synthesis.

These objects are accomplished according to the illustrated embodiments of this invention by providing a photoelectric device for mixing a portion of a first laser light beam having one optical frequency with a portion of a second laser light beam having a different optical frequency so as to produce an electrical reference signal having a countable intermediate or difference frequency. An interferometer is provided having a fixed length opti- Ice ca] path traversed by another portion of the first laser light beam and a variable length optical path traversed by another portion of the second laser light beam. After these other portions of the first and second laser light beams have traversed these optical paths of the interferometer, they are mixed by another photoelectric device so as to produce an electrical comparison signal having the same countable intermediate frequency as the reference signal so long as the optical length of the variable length optical path is not being changed. A reversible counter integrates the difference in frequency between these reference and comparison signals while the optical length of the variable length optical path is being changed so as to indicate the difference in phase between these signals and hence the change in length of the variable length optical path in units of the wavelength of light. The resolution of this interferometric system for measuring length may be substantially increased and the Wavelength unit of measured length converted to a conventional unit of measured length, such as the centimeter, by multiplying each of the reference and comparison signal frequencies by a selected number.

Other and incidental objects of this invention will be FIGURE 1 is a schematic representation of one embodiment of this invention; and

FIGURE 2 is a schematic representation of another embodiment of this invention.

Referring to FIGURE 1, there is shown an interferometric system comprising a laser light source 10 for emitting a beam of light 12 having an optical frequency f and another laser light source 14 for emitting a substantially parallel beam of light 16 having an optical frequency f that differs from the optical frequency f by a countable intermediate frequency, such as five hundred kilohertz. A beam splitter 18 of an interferometer 20 is mounted in the optical path traversed by these parallel beams of light 12 and 16 for reflecting parallel portions 12a and 16a of the light beams 12 and -16 and for transmitting another portion 12b of the light beam 12 along a first optical path of the interferometer 20 and another parallel portion 16b of the light beam 16- along a second optical path of the interferometer 20. This beam splitter 18 comprises a fifty percent reflecting mirror 22 formed on the front face of an optically flat glass plate 24 having parallel front and back faces and being oriented at an angle of about forty-five degrees with respect to a reference plane normally intersecting the substantially parallel light beams 12 and 16.

A photoelectric detector 26 having, for example, a square law detection characteristic is mounted in the optical path traversed by the parallel reflected portions 12a and 16a of the light beams 12 and 16 for mixing similarly polarized components of these reflected portions to produce an electrical reference signal having a frequency of five hundred kilohertz, the difference in optical frequency between the light beams 12 and 16. These reflected portions 12a and 16a of the light beams 12 and 16 must follow substantially parallel paths in arriving at the photoelectric detector 26 and must overlap on an area of the photosensitive surface of the photoelectric detector 26 in order for the components having the same polarization to mix and produce the electrical reference signal.

A reflector 28 is mounted in the first interferometric optical path traversed by the transmitted portion 12b of the light beam 12 for reflecting this transmitted portion back along this first optical path to the beam splitter 18. This reflector 28 comprises a one hundred percent reflecting mirror 30 that is formed on the front face of an optically flat glass plate 32 having parallel front and back faces and being oriented substantially normal to the transmitted portion 12b of the light beam 12. A retroreflector 34 is mounted in the second interferometric optical path traversed by the transmitted portion 16b of the light beam 16 for reflecting this transmitted portion to the back side of the reflector 28 from which it is reflected along this second optical path to the beam splitter 18. This retroreflector 34 comprises, for example, a glass cube corner having three mutually perpendicular reflecting faces 36 and a transmitting face 3 8 so that an incident beam of light striking the transmitting face 38 is reflected parallel to its original path of incidence no matter what its original direction may be. The retroreflector 34- is mounted for translation movement, as generally indicated at 40, so that the optical length of the second optical path of the interferometer 20 may be changed.

The parallel light beam portions 12b and 16b that are reflected back along the first and second interferometric optical paths to the beam splitter 18 are partially reflected by the beam splitter 18 in the same parallel relationship. Another photoelectric detector 42 having, for example, a square law detection characteristic is mounted in the optical path traversed by these parallel light beam portions 12b and 16b for mixing similarly polarized components of these light beam portions to produce an electrical comparison signal having a frequency f that equals the frequency i (five hundred kilohertz) of the reference signal only so long as the retroreflector 34 is not being moved.

The output of the photoelectric detector 26 is connected to the count up input of a one megahertz reversible counter 44 for positively counting the frequency of the reference signal, and the output of the photoelectric detector 42 is connected to the countdown input of the reversible counter 44 for negatively counting the frequency f of the comparison signal. In this manner the reversible counter 44 integrates in time, the difference in frequency i-Af between these signals. Since f=d/dt=fidl/dt the integrated difference in frequency between the reference signal and the comparison signal while the retroreflector 34 is being moved is equal to the change in phase of the comparison signal relative to the reference signal and hence to the change in the optical length of the second interferometric optical path that produced this change in phase. Thus, although the frequency f of the comparison signal becomes the same as the frequency of the reference signal after the retroreflector 34 has come to rest, the output 46 of the reversible counter 44 continuously indicates the change in phase of the second interferometric optical path relative to the first interferometirc optical path and hence the change in the optical length of this second optical path in units of the wavelength of light. For example, if a one-quarter wave-length interferometer 20 is used, a change of one-quarter light wavelength in the optical length of the secondinterferometric optical path produces a unit change of one cycle (that is, of one hertz for one second) in the frequency f of the comparison signal relative to the frequency of the reference signal while the retroreflector 34 is being moved. The direction of the change in the optical length of this second optical path is determined by whether the frequency f of the comparison signal exceeds or is less than the frequency of the reference signal.

Since this interferometric system is an A-C system it is not subject to l/ noise or DC shifts. Morever, such techniques as automatic gain control may be used in the electrical output portion of the system so as to compensate for temperature gradients, air turbulence, and other causes of instability that might otherwise seriously impair the stability and the reliability of the system.

Referring now to FIGURE 2, there is shown another interferometric system comprising a two frequency single mode laser 50 for producing a beam of light including a first component 52 having a frequency f and a second component 54 having a frequency f that differs from the frequency f by a countable intermediate frequency, such as five hundred kilohertz. This two frequency single mode laser 50 may comprise a plasma tube laser having spaced internal mirrors, which are mounted within the plasma tube opposite one another and perpendicular to the axis of the plasma tube so as to allow all polarizations to be amplified identically, and having a magnetic field superimposed along the plasma tube so as to produce right-hand and left-hand circularly polarized light components 52 and 54 of different frequency. Since the components 52 and 54 differ in polarization as well as in frequency they are considered separate parallel and overlapping light beams 52 and 54 for purposes of this specification and the claims appended hereto.

A mixing polarizer 56 is mounted in an optical path traversed by the parallel and overlapping light beams 52 and 54 for mixing these beams to provide each beam with a component of similar polarization. These similarly polarized components are mixed by a photoelectric detector 26 so as to produce an electrical reference signal having a frequency of five hundred kilohertz, the difference in optical frequency between light beams 52 and 54.

A one-quarter wave plate 58 is mounted in another optical path traversed by the circularly polarized light beams 52 and 54 so as to change the right-hand circular polarization of the light beam 52 to linear horizontal polarization and the left-hand circular polarization of the light beam 54 to linear vertical polarization. A beam splitter 60 of an interferometer 48 is also mounted in this other optical path for reflecting a portion of each light beam 52 and 54 along a first optical path of the interferometer 48 and for transmitting another portion of each light beam 52 and 54 along a second optical path of the interferometer 48. This beam splitter 60 comprises a fifty percent reflecting mirror 62 that is formed in the path of the parallel and overlapping light beams 52 and 54 on the back face of an optically flat glass plate 64 having parallel front and back faces and being oriented at an angle of about forty-five degrees with respect to a reference plane normally intersecting these light beams 52 and 54.

A one hundred percent reflecting miror 66 is formed on the front face of the glass plate 64 in the first interferometric optical path traversed by the reflected portion of each light beam 52 and 54 for reflecting these reflected portions 52a and 54a along a portion of this first interferomet ic optical path that is parallel to a first portion of the second interferometric optical path to a horizontal polarization pass filter 68 that is mounted in this portion of the first interferometric optical path. The horizontal polarization pass filter 68 absorbs the incident portion 54a of the light beam 54 of vertical polarization and passes the incident portion 52a of the light beam 52 of horizontal polarization. A reflector 28 is also mounted in the first interferometric optical path for reflecting the passed portion 52a of the light beam 52 of horizontal polarization back along the first optical path to the beam splitter 60.

A vertical polarization pass filter 70 is mounted in the first portion of the second interferometric optical path traversed by the transmitted portion of each light beam 52 and 54 for absorbing the incident portion 52b of the light beam 52 of horizontal polarization and for passing the incident portion 54b of the light beam 54 of vertical polarization to a retroreflector 34 that is also mounted in the second interferometric optical path. This retroreflector 34 is mounted for translational movement, as generally indicated at 40, so that the optical length of the second optical path of the interferometer 48 may be changed. The retroreflector 34 reflects the passed portion 54b of the light beam 54 of vertical polarization along a spaced and parallel second portion of the second interferometric optical path to the back side of the reflector 28 from which it is reflected back along the second interferometric optical path to the beam splitter 60.

The light beam portions 52a and 54b that are reflected back along the first and second interferometric optical paths to the beam splitter 60- are partially transmitted and reflected by the beam splitter 60 in parallel and overlapping relationship to a mixing polarizer 72. The mixing polarizer 72 mixes the parallel and overlapping light beam portions 52a and 54b to provide each of these light beam portions with a component of similar polarization. These similarly polarized components are mixed by a photoelectric detector 42 so as to produce an electrical comparison signal having a frequency f that equals the frequency f (five hundred kilohertz) of the reference signal only so long as the retroreflector 34 is not being moved.

As described in connection with FIGURE 1, a one megahertz reversible counter 44 may be connected to the output of each of the photoelectric detectors 26 and 42 for positively counting the frequency of the reference signal and for negatively counting the frequency of the comparison signal while the retrorefiector 34 is being moved so as to continuously indicate the change in phase of the second interferometric optical path relative to the first interferometric optical path and hence the change in optical length of this second optical path in units of light wavelength. The resolution of this interferometric system for measuring length may be substantially improved by connecting a frequency synthesizer 74 between the output of the photoelectric detector 26 and the count up input of the reversible counter 44 and by connecting another frequency synthesizer 76 between the output of the photoelectric detector 42 and the count down input of the reversible counter 44. These frequency synthesizers 74 and 76 multiply the frequencies of the reference and comparison signals by a rational fraction P/ Q, where P is an integer and Q is a smaller integer. Thus, if a one-quarter wavelength interferometer 48 is used, a change of only Q/4P light wavelength in the optical length of the second interferometric optical path produces a unit change of one cycle (that is, of one hertz for one second) in the frequency f of the comparison signal relative to the frequency f of the reference signal while the retrorefiector 34 is being moved. The frequency synthesizers 74 and 76 are also used to convert the wavelength unit of measured length to a conventional unit of measured length, such as the centimeter, by multiplying the frequencies f and f of the reference and comparison signals by the appropriate conversion factor X.

We claim:

1. An interferometric system comprising:

source means for emitting a first beam of light having one optical frequency and a second beam of light having a different optical frequency;

an interferometer optically coupled to said source means, said interferometer having a first optical path traversed by a first portion of the first light beam and a second optical path traversed by a first portion of the second light beam, the optical length of said second optical path being variable relative to the optical length of said first optical path;

first mixing means optically coupled to said interferometer for mixing these first portions of the first and second light beams so as to produce an information signal having a frequency equal to the difference in optical frequency between the first portion of the first light beam after it has traversed said first optical path and the first portion of the second light beam after it has traversed said second optical path;

second mixing means optically coupled to said source means for mixing a second portion of the first light beam and a second portion of the second light beam so as to produce a reference signal having a frequency equal to the difference in optical frequency between the first and second light beams; and output means coupled to both of said first and second mixing means and responsive to a change produced in the frequency of the information signal relative to the frequency of the reference signal while the optical length of said second optical path is being varied for providing an indication related to the change in the optical length of said second optical path relative to the optical length of said first optical path.

2. An interferometric system as in claim 1 wherein said source means comprises:

a first laser for emitting the first light beam; and

a second laser for emitting the second light beam.

3. An interferometric system as in claim 2 wherein said output means comprises a reversible counter connected to said second mixing means for counting in one direction the frequency of the reference signal and connected to said first mixing means for counting in the opposite direction the frequency of the information signal so as to provide a measure of the change in phase of said second optical path relative to said first optical path and hence a measure of the change in the optical length of said second optical path relative to the optical length of said first optical path.

4. An interferometric system as in claim 3 wherein said interferometer comprises:

a beam splitter mounted in the path of the first and second laser light beams for transmitting the first portion of the first laser light beam along said first optical path and the first portion of the second laser light beam along said second optical path and for reflecting the second portion of each of these first and second laser light beams to said second mixing means;

a reflector mounted in said first optical path for reflecting the first portion of the first laser light beam back along said first optical path to said beam splitter from which it is further reflected to said first mixing means; and

a retrorefiector mounted in said second optical path for reflecting the first portion of the second laser light beam to a reflector from which it is reflected back along said second optical path to said beam splitter and then to said first mixing means, said retrorefiector being movably mounted for varying the optical length of said second optical path relative to the optical length of said first optical path.

5. An interferometric system as in claim 1 wherein:

said source means comprises a laser for emitting a first beam of light of one circular polarization and a parallel and overlapping second beam of light of another circular polarization, said first laser light beam having one optical frequency and said second laser light beam having a different optical frequency; and

said system includes quarter-wave plate means optically coupled to said laser for converting the circular polarization of the first laser light beam to one linear polarization and the circular polarization of the second laser light beam to another linear polarization that is orthogonal to said one linear polarization.

6. An interferometric system as in claim 3 wherein said source means comprises:

a laser for emitting a first beam of light of one polarization and a parallel and overlapping second beam of light of another polarization, said first laser light beam having one optical frequency and said second laser light beam having a different optical frequency.

7. An interferometric system as in claim 6 wherein:

said first interferometric optical path includes means for passing substantially only a light beam of said one polarization and said second interferometric optical path includes means for passing substantially only a light beam of said other polarization, whereby substantially only the first portion of the first laser light beam completely traverses said first optical path and substantially only the first portion of the second laser light beam completely traverses said second optical path;

said first mixing means includes means for providing each of the first portions of the first and second laser light beams with a component of similar polarization; and

said second mixing means includes means for providing each of the second portions of the first and second laser light beams with a component of similar polarization. 8. An interferometric system as in claim 7 wherein said output means comprises a reversible counter connected to said second mixing means for counting in one direction the frequency of the reference signal and connected to said first mixing means for counting in the opposite direction the frequency of the information signal so as to provide a measure of the change in phase of said second optical path relative to said first optical path and hence a measure of the change in the optical length of said second optical path relative to the optical length of said first optical path.

9. An interferometric system as in claim 8 wherein said interferometer comprises:

beam splitter means mounted in the path of the first and second laser light beams for reflecting the first portion of the first laser light beam along said first optical path and for transmitting the first portion of the second laser light beam along said second optical path;

first reflector means mounted in said first optical path for reflecting the first portion of the first laser light beam from said beam splitter means along said first optical path back to said beam splitter means and then to said first mixing means; and

second reflector means mounted in said second optical path for reflecting the first portion of the second laser light beam from said beam splitter means along said second optical path back to said beam splitter means and then to said first mixing means, said second reflector means com-prising a retroreflector movably mounted in said second optical path for varying the optical length of said second optical path relative to the optical length of said first optical path.

10. An interferometric system as in claim 9 wherein:

said beam splitter means comprises a first optically flat glass plate having parallel front and back faces, said beam splitter means further comprising a partially reflective mirror supported on the back face of said first glass plate in the path of the first and second laser light beams for reflecting the first portion of the first laser light beam along said first optical path and for transmitting the first portion of the second laser light beam along said second optical path;

said first reflector means includes a reflector and includes a one hundred percent reflective mirror supported on the front face of said first glass plate in the path of the first portion of the first laser light beam, which first 8 portion was reflected by said partially reflective mirror, for reflecting this first portion of the first laser light beam to said reflector along a portion of said first optical path that is substantially parallel to a first portion of said second optical path;

said second reflector means also includes said reflector and said retroreflector reflects the first portion of the first laser light beam traversing the first portion of said second optical path to said reflector along a spaced and parallel second portion of said second optical path; and

said reflector comprises a second optically flat glass plate having parallel front and back faces, said reflector further comprising a one hundred percent reflective mirror supported on one of the front and back faces of said second glass plate for reflecting the first portion of the first laser light beam back along said first optical path and the first portion of the second laser light beam back along said second optical path.

11. An interferometric system as in claim 1 including:

first frequency synthesizing means coupling said first mixing means to said output means for multiplying the frequency of the information signal by a selected factor; and

second frequency synthesizing means coupling said second mixing means to said output means for multiplying the frequency of the reference signal by the same selected factor.

12. An interferometric system as in claim 11 wherein said output means comprises a reversible counter connected to said second frequency synthesizing means for counting in one direction the multiplied frequency of the reference signal and to said first frequency synthesizing means for counting in the opposite direction the multiplied frequency of the information signal.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,558,758 7/1951 Jaynes 3438 3,249,936 5/1966 Forestier 3438 3,409,369 11/1968 Bickel 356107 X OTHER REFERENCES German application No. 1,085,350, Fromund Hock, 3 pp. spec, 3 pp. drawings, July 1960.

RONALD L. WIBERT, Primary Examiner J. MAJOR, Assistant Examiner UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,458 ,259 July 29 1969 Alan S. Bagley et a1.

It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

after "reflected" insert back Column 3, line 6,

meral "3 should read Column 6 line 54 claim reference nu (SEAL) Attest:

Edward M. Fletcher, Jr.

Commissioner of Patents Attesting Officer WILLIAM E. SCHUYLER, JR. 

